Roaches are every homeowners nightmare. If given the opportunity, German Roaches will become a permanent family member! There are different ways of dealing with this pest, but three qualities you need are 1) patience, 2) persistence and 3) knowledge.

Patience is needed because you cannot spray one time and expect to never see another roach. Egg cases will hatch and follow-up treatments are necessary. When sightings occur after treatments, use these sightings to your advantage. There must be a nest or two you missed so attack that area.

Persistence is needed when dealing with roaches because of their biology. Roaches develop rapidly and studies confirm they will develop faster when their population is under stress. Many of you have experienced a population explosion within two to six weeks after a major clean out. This is nature’s way of preserving the species. A treatment schedule must be made and then strictly adhered to when you decide to clean out a cockroach infestation. Think long term and schedule treatments for the year. This insures your commitment.

Knowledge is another key ingredient when combating these creatures. If you hire a professional, ask questions. Learn what products they are using. Make sure to monitor your problem areas. Ask if extra treatments are needed. If you adopt an in house program, keep mental notes of problem areas. These will prove invaluable for identifying patterns of roach problems throughout the year.

As stated above, patience and persistence are needed when dealing with cockroaches. However, these are skills I cannot teach within the confines of this article. Knowledge, though, is something I can share. I have had a good deal of experience working in apartment buildings, town houses, condominiums, duplexes and homes. The methods I have had success with vary with the conditions I am forced to work within. Let me outline some guidelines and options for anyone serious about roach control.

Every homeowner must make a decision regarding roach control. Your decision will be one of three choices.

1) You may choose to use a pest control company full time for all of your roach control needs.

2) You may hire a pest control company for spot treatment. I have seen homeowners hire a service to treat certain problem areas and then supplement that treatment to help keep costs down.

3) You may choose to do all your roach control in house. If that is the case, read on. The rest of this article is designed for do-it-yourselfers. You will now have access to the information required to get complete cockroach control – including the professional strength materials needed to do the work!

If you decide to treat your home in conjunction with a service, implement a program which will compliment the service. Work with them, not against them. Some homeowners I have dealt with pay a service to handle termite or bee problems only. The homeowner handles the preventive spraying. Pest control companies generally do not like this as it cuts into their profits but as a good paying customer, you may hire whatever service type you want.

In general, there are two methods of handling german roach infestations: spraying or baiting.

First, lets discuss spraying. Traditionally, we chemically treated as many of the cabinets, wall voids and appliances that roaches like to hide in. This involves a lot of preparation. You will need to empty cabinets and make voids accessible. Only then can treatment’s be complete and thorough. Once these areas are prepared, there are two types of products needed for the application.

The first type of product commonly used in one that’s mixed with water. This concentrate should be mixed in a pump sprayer and applied to baseboards, behind appliances and around the infested room being treated with the intention of creating a barrier that roaches will not be able to cross.

There are many active ingredients available, but the one most active on cockroaches is ORTHENE WP. Combine it with some GENTROL GROWTH REGULATOR and you’ll get the best long term roach control spray combination available. If the barrier is complete, roaches will not be able to migrate from one room to another and if they try, it will lead to their demise.

Use one of our SPRAYERS to make your treatments. Ours comes with a set of tips which allow for a fine, medium or coarse fan spray – perfect for baseboard treatments. The standard tip is brass and adjustable, great for foundations and where heavy treatments are needed.

When roach control was first attempted at the professional level, the products we used were so active that spraying would knock out infestations. Even when we only treated baseboards, the volatility of the chemicals used were so strong that roaches would die which were far removed from treated surfaces.

Things are very different today. The products manufactured have little if any volatility. This means they stay where applied. The advantage is low odor. The disadvantage is that the treatments need to be where the cockroaches are hiding. I have seen roaches thrive less than a foot away from a treated surface. Their path of feeding and moving to and from shelter never crossed the treated surfaces. This enabled them to live virtually on top of treated areas and yet still survive. When roaches began to build resistance to chemicals and manufacturers designed their products with less volatility, new packaging and treatment techniques became necessary. These new trends became known as “crack and crevice”. Basically, c/c means applying the chemical into the cracks and crevices suspected of harboring cockroaches.

There are two types of products commonly used for this purpose: dust and aerosol. I have always been able to get control with dust. In fact, a good pest control technician should be able to get roach control with nothing more if he or she knows where to do the application. With the use of DRIONE DUST, I have solved many roach problems. Apply it in cracks and crevices, behind cabinets and major appliances, in wall voids and electric outlets. This requires a lot of work and this product can be messy to work with, but provides the fastest results possible when used properly.

Use a HAND DUSTER for the application. Drione can be the best product for roach control when used by a trained professional but it does have it’s drawbacks. The big one is that there can be some dust visible where it’s been applied. And because of this drawback, aerosol products became popular through the 1980’s. A company called Whitmire offered the pest control industry products in a can which were easy to apply, economical and went a long way.

Although not as popular as when they first came out, aerosols offer a clean, ready to use formulation which is effective. One of the newer formulations called PHANTOM AEROSOL goes on dry and is ideal for use in sensitive areas as it’s practically odorless. Phantom has a unique ability to not make a mess when used properly making it a good choice in rooms with slick finishes such as tiles, linoleum and hardwood floors.

On a special note, don’t think you can substitute Boric Acid or a can of “Raid” for either of the products mentioned above. The professional line of products, that which I am discussing here, are truly effective and not commonly available. Their active ingredients are effective because insects have not been able to build resistance. I have heard all the stories of super roaches and the fact that “even the bugman” couldn’t get rid of “my” roaches, but what it all boils down to is the application method and the choice of product. If the products used are the ones I mention above and the treatment is thorough and complete, there is no chance of any roach surviving nor of reinfestation.

The reason why I can state this without a doubt is because most insects, certainly cockroaches, cannot live where Drione has been applied. That being said, all you need to do is apply it wherever roaches want to be. This process of eliminating their nest sights eliminates their population. The reason they appear to be “resistant” in most cases is that they are simply avoiding treated areas. This can happen when products are mixed at higher rates or when applicators fall victim to treating the same areas over and over again. The roaches which survive all these applications are the ones which are going where the applicator has failed to treat. Today, these problems have been all but eliminated with the latest treating methods. These new methods are both safer and easier to do.

Although spraying has long been the main method to get cockroach control, baiting has become a legitimate method as new baits hit the market. These products have been tested and proven effective. Baits have always been available, but cockroaches seemed to be indifferent to them. Although some roaches would feed and die, it was not likely that you would be able to control infestations with baits alone. Now we have products like MAXFORCE MAG and ADVION GEL. These materials are deadly for roaches.

One of their benefits is that they are very safe to use in sensitive areas and you won’t find a better odorless roach killer in any other form. These qualities make them perfect for use in cupboards, stove, cabinets, pantries and other food areas of the kitchen. Even roaches in a car can be effectively treated with the baits and if you need to get cockroach control in appliances or some other hard to treat location, the bait is ideal.

If you own several properties or apartments and intend on doing a lot of baiting you should consider getting both the MAXFORCE MAG and the ADVION ROACH GEL. Apply these two flavors with our BAIT GUN and you’ll get both quick acceptance and quick results. The Bait Gun accepts the cartridges which are easily loaded in the gun allowing for precise, controlled applications and placements. They have been formulated with attractants which cockroaches cannot resist.

Basically the material is a brown gel that is applied discreetly in places like cupboards, cabinets, dressers, closets and other areas around the home. I have been able to get complete control in homes, apartments and townhouses without having to do any spraying. The advantage of these products is that you are able to apply them with a minimum of preparation.

If you are careful, you should be able to apply Maxforce without having to remove anything from your cabinets. Avert comes in an aerosol can which enables you to deliver the bait deep in wall voids where the roaches are hiding. The amazing thing about these products is that roaches love them to death. Watch this video to see how much they love this stuff.

As you can see, cockroaches will come crawling out of cabinets and wall voids in an attempt to get the bait! So attracted to these products are roaches that you only have to get them close to where the roaches are seen. They will find it.

The drawbacks to these products is that they do take a little longer to work. It may take several days before you see dead cockroaches. Another disadvantage is that you must be careful not to spray the bait placements with traditional materials. They will contaminate the bait and roaches will simply ignore it. In fact, roaches will ignore bait placements that have been made over treated surfaces, so make sure to apply Maxforce or Advion where you are certain no residual pesticide has been applied.

Since Maxforce comes out like toothpaste, it is difficult to penetrate voids with it. So if you have a lot of voids to treat, get some AVERT DRY BAIT. Using some Avert is like offering a different flavored entree. And when used with either Maxforce or Advion, you’ll get faster results. I believe this is achieved because you are offering the insects a variety of food.

Regardless of the treatment method you choose, another tool which can be a great help when treating roach infestations is the use of ROACH TRAPS. These rely on cockroach pheromones to attract all types of roaches but they work particularly well for German and several of the large roach species. Place them where cockroaches have been seen. The pheromones will attract males ready to reproduce, females in search of nest sights (the odors emitted signal a cockroach gathering place or nest) and young roaches which are looking for a colony to mix and mingle.

The great advantage of these traps is that they are not toxic; the pheromones are not detectable by people and pose no hazard to food, people or pets. The traps can be placed in pantries, food cabinets, desks, dressers, closets, countertops or anywhere roach activity is present. The second advantage for using these devices is that they are able to let you know where cockroach activity is greatest. It is common to focus on wrong areas when spraying or baiting and the use of these traps can help identify just exactly where the roaches are located. By setting two or three in a room which has roach activity, you can learn exactly which part of the room is the “hotspot” which needs extra attention.

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As for the aerosol; the Phantom is the next best choice. It doesn’t repel roaches and once they start moving over treated surfaces, they’ll pick up the active ingredient in the Phantom, contaminate the rest of the nest and end up killing many more roaches.

Here is a link to this item in our cart. Please show your support for our business by purchasing the items we recommend from the links provided. Remember, this is the only way we can stay around and keep this valuable web site up and running. Thanks for your business!

julia @
1:55 pm

Tech Support @
10:15 pm

Not at this time. To get what we have listed in our article, you’ll need to click on the products where they appear in “blue” in the article. This will link you to the item in our on line catalog where you can read more about it, see pricing, etc. From there you can order and since we ship within one business day, most orders are received quickly.

Deborah McRee @
12:02 pm

I am still a bit confused. Our issue is waterbugs (type of roach). They come in during the summer through late fall. I do not leave food out or keep messy floors or counters. Everything is clean in my kitchen. They get in I am sure because we have an older home with holes in the baseboard. Which product should I start with; the dust or the Phantom? Also, are these products adverse to bees and butterflies?

Tech Support @
1:13 pm

First, the treatments for waterbugs should not have any kind of impact on bees or butterflies since you won’t be treating the areas where bees and butterflies are normally found.

Second, it looks like you missed our waterbug article which covers this pest in detail. Treating for them is a bit different compared to german roaches since waterbugs tend to come in from outside. Definitely read our article posted here:

So in general, the best way to handle this pest would be to treat the exterior of your home on a regular basis during the spring, summer and fall. This will effectively take away their outside nest locations and if you stay the course doing these treatments, you should be able to minimize if not eliminate inside activity.

As our article covers, there are several products that can be applied to accomplish this task so take your pick. The only rule to follow here is that if you have a current problem and want the “strongest” spray available, get the Orthene.

But if you’re not seeing any activity now and just want to start doing preventive treatments to make sure none are nesting around house, the Suspend will do the job. And because it’s odorless and lasts up to 3 months, most people feel the Suspend is the way to go for preventive treatments.

In theory, treating with the spray and bait around the home should keep these roaches in check and come fall, none should be around to migrate inside the house. But if you end up seeing any inside or have some activity now you’d like to treat, set out some Magnum Gel and some Roach Traps. I wouldn’t recommend spraying inside since the bait is easier to do, more effective in the long run and a “can’t miss” option.
Here are links to these items in our cart. Please show your support for our business by purchasing the items we recommend from the links provided. Remember, this is the only way we can stay around and be here to answer your questions and keep this valuable web site up and running. Thanks for your business!

Ryan @
9:56 pm

Tech Support @
9:27 am

Ryan,

These products are very different from one another and should be used based on their strengths and advantages. So here’s a brief description of their “differences” and when one should be used instead of the other.

So if you have a vacant home or apartment and want to treat it for Roaches, the Demon would be ideal. Its fast working and when you’re able to spray every surface, its thorough. Demon tends to flush roaches (and other insects) so there is no excuse for not being able to knock out a problem quickly when you’re able to spray an entire area.

But if the home is occupied and you’re not sure where the roaches might be hiding, its hard to use a spray like Demon effectively. Typically the roaches “detect” the active and learn to avoid the treatments making any roach problem worse and harder to handle. For such scenarios, Phantom would prove to be the better choice.

Basically Phantom is undetectable by roaches. This means they’ll readily walk over treated surfaces unknowingly since they have no idea of the danger (hence the name “Phantom”). But as they pick up the active, they’ll inadvertently “share” it with other roaches and after 2-4 days, they’ll all die.

So for wide open structures where everything is accessible, Demon is a good choice. But for areas where people are present and there is a lot of things in the way of being able to properly treat, the Phantom is the way to go.

It would also be wise to set out some Roach Gel and Roach Traps in any “sensitive” area no matter which concentrate you employ. This way if you miss an= key location with the spray, the gel or traps will have you covered.

PS: Please show your support for our business by purchasing the items we recommend from the links provided. Remember, this is the only way we can stay around and be here to answer your questions and keep our web site up and running. Thanks for your business!